


in which an important conversation is had

by deathishauntedbyhumans



Series: modern day strip club au [2]
Category: Black Sails
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Stripper/Exotic Dancer, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Open Relationships, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:14:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29100102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathishauntedbyhumans/pseuds/deathishauntedbyhumans
Summary: Communication is the key to a healthy relationship. Max and Anne communicate.
Relationships: Anne Bonny/Max, Anne Bonny/“Calico” Jack Rackham (mentioned), Eleanor Guthrie/Max (past)
Series: modern day strip club au [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2135106
Kudos: 9





	in which an important conversation is had

**Author's Note:**

> you should probably read _forever and no time has passed_ before you read this one !

It is easy to fall into a rhythm with Anne. Too easy, if Max is wholly honest with herself. She knows that it is dangerous to fall so hard and so fast for someone like Anne, someone who is so beautiful and capable and strong. It is not the first time that someone so lovely has distracted her like this, and the memory of _the last time_ threatens, at times, to overwhelm the sweetness of this thing that she and Anne share. 

_Eleanor was young, and beautiful, and blonde. The sun caught on her hair when she spun around the little patch of grass outside of Max’s apartment complex where they used to picnic. The sun caught on the beaded embroidery of her thrift-store sweater when Eleanor told her that they could never be together, not really, that it would always be secondary to the things that she dreamed of for herself. The sun caught on the ice in her water when Eleanor had left her at the cafe downtown after breaking her heart._

Anne is just as bright as Eleanor was, which is to say that she is as bright as the sun itself, but… That is where the similarities end. Anne is reserved where Eleanor was wild, and kind in places that Eleanor never could be. 

Her sex work is one topic that is unavoidable. Given the circumstances of their meeting, Max expects Anne to be as jealous as Eleanor used to be of her job. That is not the case. Anne does not pry into the details of the club, and she does not ask Max to find another job as Eleanor once had. Instead, it is Max who broaches the subject one evening, when they are lying together in Max’s bed. (They are always in Max’s bed; there is something that Max senses she is not being told about Anne’s home life, but she does not pry. If Anne can give her that much courtesy, Max can extend it right back to her.) 

“You have not asked me to stop working at the club,” she says, faux-casually, like the world as they know it together might end if Anne reacts negatively to this particular topic. 

“No,” Anne replies simply, twirling her fingers gently through Max’s curls. “Why would I? That’s your job, ain’t it?”

Max takes a steadying breath. “It is… However, I did not miss you glaring daggers at the other girls when you used to come in for my shows.” It fills her with a sense of pleasure and pride, to know for sure that the reason Anne used to frequent the club was solely because of her. “I do not shy away from the kind of work that is done there.” She pauses, giving Anne a moment to interrupt, but when it does not happen, she sighs softly and continues. “I have not had much luck in convincing my past partners that there is a line for me, between my work and my pleasure. I have been… afraid that I might have the same trouble in this relationship as I have had in the past.” 

Anne huffs out a breath and leans forward, kissing the side of her face. “Shut up,” she says, but there is no heat behind it. “I ain’t gonna fault you for doin’ what you need to do to survive. I trust you, alright?”

Just like that, a weight she had not realised had even settled there lifts from Max’s chest. She feels like she can breathe a full breath again, when she had not even known that it was missing before. “Alright,” she replies, and that is that. There is a long silence between them, and then Max tilts her head back so that she can see into Anne’s beautiful face. “For the record,” she adds softly. “I trust you, as well.”

Inexplicably, Anne stiffens without warning against her. She does not meet Max’s gaze; instead, her eyes dart to the side, and she swallows hard, as though her throat has suddenly gone dry. 

“...Anne?”

For a moment, Max fears that something has frightened Anne back into her shell, some terrible thing that Max herself is not privy to. Anne’s shuttered face reminds Max of their first few meetings, when the physical shadow of Anne’s hat had prevented her from seeing Anne’s expressions in the dim light of the club. It frightens her, after all the progress that they have made in their relationship, that there is still something to Anne that she does not quite understand. 

“I haven’t been honest with you,” Anne says abruptly. Her whole face is tilted away, now; Max can gauge nothing from her shadowed features. “It’s nothing— It’s not somethin’ I thought’d be important, but it feels like— It feels like I’ve been _lying_ to you _.”_

Steeling herself, Max shifts in Anne’s arms until they’re both sitting up against the head of the bed. She reaches out slowly, and when Anne doesn’t pull away, she cups Anne’s cheek in her palm and applies a gentle pressure to coax Anne to look at her. “Whatever it is, I am sure we can work it out.”

Anne makes a frustrated sound somewhere in the back of her throat, but she also allows Max to tilt her head back into view. She looks angry, but it does not seem to be directed at Max. Instead, her anger appears to be directed inwards, at herself. Max smooths her thumb along the line of Anne’s cheekbone and waits. 

“I have a partner,” Anne eventually blurts out. She winces immediately, shaking her head like a dog with water in its fur and inadvertently shaking Max’s hand off of her cheek. Max allows it to drop to the bed, a hard shock clawing its way into her chest. “It’s not— I’m not _cheating_ on him,” she clarifies, looking mildly horrified at the thought. “I just— Jack and me, we—“ She makes another frustrated noise. “God, this is difficult.” She looks suddenly into Max’s face, and Max tries her best to keep her expression as neutral as she can possibly make it. “Me and Jack are in an open relationship. I’ve known him forever, we’re— we’re practically married,” she says, the words falling quickly from her tongue. “But I didn’t think you— I didn’t think it would matter, with you, so I never mentioned him, and then it was too late to mention him without feeling like I’ve been keeping some sort of _secret_ from you. For no reason! I ain’t ashamed of him or nothin’ like that. Well, not most of the time.” She makes a face and Max wants, bizarrely, to laugh at it. She quells the urge, but barely. 

This is… something to process. It is something to process, but it is not a bad thing. It does not complicate things the way that Anne is making it out to seem. It is strange, a little, that Anne has never mentioned this Jack before, but given the way Anne has guarded herself so closely, it makes sense from an objective standpoint that her partner is never on her mind when they are together. (Which is a flattering thought, really, when Max thinks on it for a moment longer.) 

“You’re angry with me,” Anne says, misinterpreting Max’s silence. Max shakes her head and reaches out, taking one of Anne’s hands between her own. 

“I am not angry,” she assures. “Surprised? Yes. I am surprised. But I could not be angry with you for such a thing, Anne. I am glad that you have someone else in your life to be with when we are not together.” She smiles, softly, and slowly, Anne’s shoulders begin to relax. 

“You’re not angry,” she says, sounding shocked. 

“I am not angry,” Max repeats. “I was not lying when I said that I trust you. You have feelings for me, do you not?”

Anne’s face turns pink almost immediately. “Yes. ‘Course I do.”

“And you have feelings for your Jack?”

“God help me, I do,” she says, sounding slightly ruffled by the fact. Max bites her lip against an amused smile. The nature of Anne’s relationship with Jack is not one that she is very aware of, admittedly, but from what she is already beginning to parse from Anne’s attitude towards her other lover, it seems as though Anne is very comfortable with him, to say the least. 

“Then there is not a problem,” she says simply. Anne meets her gaze, her eyes searching, but when she finds what she is looking for, her smile widens a bit. “Perhaps someday, I can meet him,” she adds, and Anne snorts. 

“Per’aps someday,” she agrees, pleasing Max without even trying. It is heartening that Anne seems to want to allow her into this part of her life, even if it has been a rocky start up until now. “I have to warn you, though: He takes a bit of warming-up-to, if you know what I mean.”

“If you have feelings for him, he cannot be that bad,” Max maintains. Anne grimaces and then shrugs. 

“Like I said, I’ve known him forever. Jack and me… We’ve been through a lot together.”

It is a story for another time, Max senses, and so she does not pry. Instead, she nods and leans forward, resting her forehead against Anne’s. Anne hums softly and tilts her head just enough to kiss her. 

“Thank you,” Anne murmurs when they part again. Max cocks her head in a silent question, and Anne gestures vaguely with her free hand. “For not bein’ angry about this. It’s so strange… I never meant to keep it a secret. It just never came up, and then all of a sudden it was too late.”

“It is never too late, if it is important to you.”

Anne laughs softly, her warm breath tickling Max’s lips. She has relaxed again, finally; the tension from before is completely gone from her body. “Thank you,” she repeats. 

Instead of answering, Max kisses her again. Anne wraps her arms around her once more, and they curl into one another comfortably, as though they have been doing this for years instead of weeks.

**Author's Note:**

> i know nobody cares abt this series but god here i am writing it 
> 
> The lore changed a little bc I decided I didn’t want to write infidelity :) and I’m the author so I can do what I want!
> 
> Kudos/comments are love! Come scream at me on tumblr @deathishauntedbyhumans


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